The stagnation
While representation of women across the workforce has increased over the years, LinkedIn’s Economic Graph data show that progress has stalled since 2022 and declined in 2024.
Also, the progress that was being made in promoting women to senior and leadership roles has stagnated in recent years
Women’s representation in the overall workforce increased from 23.9% in 2016 to 27.3% in 2022.
It stayed the same in 2023 before decreasing to 26.8% in 2024.
The stagnation in the share of women in senior positions and the dip in this year can be attributed to the slowdown in fresh hires of women for leadership roles
The share increased from 18.8% in 2016 to 25.2% in 2021 and declined after that.
Despite progress, women still face obstacles in reaching leadership roles due to bias, societal norms, and structural barriers.
However, recent focus on ‘women-led development’ has led to concerted efforts by both policymakers and business leaders to tackle these challenges
An industry-wide look at the share of women in senior leadership positions shows that even the gradual rise was limited to certain sectors.
The entry and career progression of women were lowest in the oil, gas and mining, construction, utilities, wholesale, manufacturing, transportation and real estate sectors
In these sectors, there were just 11%-14% women in leadership roles.
But, In administrative and support services, healthcare and hospitals, consumer services, government administration, and education, the share of women was between 22% and 30%
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